days of kindness

besides our gifts for Jesus, this has been my favorite part this christmas season.

remember our days of kindness??

the kids look SO forward to seeing what we are going to do for someone ELSE each day!

many of the days were very simple (i.e. "say hi to someone you don't know", "mail a letter to someone")


here are a few other examples and some stories to go with them...

one day we "left notes around town" - on a gas pump, at the bank atm, at a redbox in front of a grocery store. a couple things to say about this day in particular. when pat was coming home from work, he stopped and got gas, and just happened to pump his gas where our note was! what are the chances?!?

also, as we were driving around, leaving the notes, the kids were all arguing and driving me crazy. i pushed on and tried to redirect them. our plan was to leave the notes and then go get frozen yogurt (it was a fundraiser at the fro-yo place for their school.) i was feeling like maybe we shouldn't get a "treat" since they didn't have the best attitudes. but, i still took them. and we ended up getting to do our BIGGEST act of kindness the whole month! as we were sitting there eating our frozen yogurt, i noticed a lady come in. it was obvious she was distraught and on her phone. a few minutes later, i looked over, and she was still sitting there. on her phone. upset. i walked over and asked if she was ok. ended up she'd just been in a car accident, the towtruck had taken her car away, her cell phone was about to die (she was on the phone with the insurance company) and she lived a good 30 minutes away and had no idea how she was going to get home. i offered to drive her. 5 pm on a rainy day in december with 6 kids in northern virginia traffic. the easiest thing to offer? no. but we did it and it was a HUGE blessing to us. the kids still talk about  it. i'm just thankful that we had that opportunity! and you know what the kids haven't talked about? that we had p, b and j sandwiches for dinner that night instead of a "real" dinner since we weren't home. good lesson for all of us!

another day - we left a poinsettia on someone's doorstep. the kids LOVED ringing the doorbell and running! :-)

one of our FAVORITES - passing out candy at the post office!

{yes. he always carries things that way. i love it.}

try it. the whole atmosphere in that post office line changes! instead of everyone avoiding eye contact with each other and just shuffling forward in line, everyone starts smiling and talking! it's amazing!

so, our act of kindness yesterday was to ring a salvation army bell!
our shift was for 2 hours in front of a VERY busy grocery store.
people were so, so generous!

i had really been looking forward to it.
but, i have to keep it real.

it was HARD.
it was FREEZING.
i ended up doing it solo - with all 6 kids.
levi was super cranky and cried the first hour, then slept on my back the second hour.

there was lots of complaining. some disobedience. some hard moments.

but, some good opportunities to remind them that the point wasn't to be FUN. that sometimes it's not easy to help others. and, they did rally and make it through. i was proud of them and need to make sure to tell them that again.

if there is anything i will put more time and energy into next year, it will be this.

focusing on OTHERS instead of ourselves is something we can ALWAYS do more of!


list of days of kindness:

hide note for each other
rice night (i don't think i've posted about this...i will)
leave coins in vending machine
give food to food pantry
call grandma and papa and leave message
leave coins at playground
leave notes around town
write letter (and mail it!) to someone
pick up trash
leave flowers on someone's doorstep
say good morning to someone you don't know
call grandmommy and granddad and leave message
say hi to someone you don't know
hand out candy at post office
make treats
bring balloons to hannah
ring salvation army bell
give treats to sunday school teacher
make card for teacher (school)
give cookies to crossing guards
leave cookies for mailman
leave cookies for trashmen
read to someone
hug someone